The last Childrens Chess of the Season. April 13th 2014 at Methodist College.
Myself and Geoff Hindley assisted by early arrivals setup the chess sets and the signs for the Chess Rooms.
With some 30 pupils registering each taking a puzzle sheet. The draw placed on the front screen of the classroom. Half the players looked after by Geoff and half by myself. With the extra assistance of Mandar Tahmankar. The first round players take their seats and focused concentrated silence fills the room. Brilliant.
Fantastic endgames, complicated traps, silly mistakes, winning then suddenly loosing, stalemates when winning ... All the fun of chess. A brilliant afternoon.
The Trophies were kindly sponsored by Stendhal Music and Arts Festival - Northern Ireland's biggest and best loved independent music and arts festival since 2011.Stendhal about the sponsorship: As an avid promoter of creativity and innovation, Stendhal Festival, see Chess (and the promotion of) as a great outlet for our younger innovators to explore dynamic thinking and critical problem-solving skills. Stendhal Festival is delighted to sponsor this junior chess tournament. Very best wishes to all the participants. https://www.stendhalfestival.com/
The puzzles this competition were harder than usual. So the total no completed on each sheet were lower. I had the help of David Corr in marking the sheets - invaluable.
Primary Puzzle Solver Champion: Lorcan Rippon with an excellent 13 points.
| Name | Year | Points | Cert. | |
| 1 | Lorcan Rippon | P7 | 13 | Gold |
| 2 | Alwin Micheal | P7 | 12.5 | Gold |
| 3 | Advait Tahmankar | P6 | 12 | Gold |
| 4 | Alex McKeown | P4 | 11 | Silver |
| 5 | Matthew Loughrey | P5 | 11 | Silver |
| 6 | Torin Rippon | P3 | 10 | Silver |
| 7 | Alexander Davis | P3 | 8 | Silver |
| 8 | Soundharya Premkumar | P4 | 8 | Silver |
| 9 | Abhiram Ganja | P4 | 7 | Bronze |
| 10 | Kia Kazemi Jahandizi | P5 | 7 | Bronze |
| 11 | Luke Spence | P3 | 5 | Bronze |
| 12 | Jackson Coakley | P6 | 4 | Bronze |
| 13 | Joseph Haslam- Black | P7 | 4 | Bronze |
| 14 | Nathan Johnston | P5 | 3 | Bronze |
Secondary Puzzle Champion: Toby Crothers with a brilliant 16 points.
| Name | Year | Points | Cert. | |
| 1 | Toby Crothers | F4 | 16 | Gold |
| 2 | Peter Murphy | F3 | 14 | Gold |
| 3 | Rithvik Deekonda | F2 | 10 | Silver |
| 4 | Andrew Campbell | L6 | 10 | Silver |
| 5 | Karthikeya Karpagavinayagam | F3 | 9 | Silver |
| 6 | Nathan Murray | F1 | 9 | Silver |
| 7 | Freddie Corr | F1 | 7 | Bronze |
| 8 | Jonah Corr | F4 | 7 | Bronze |
| 9 | George McClelland | F1 | 6 | Bronze |
| 10 | Ben Guerrero | F1 | 2 | Bronze |
| 11 | Eli Davison | F4 | 2 | Bronze |
Here are some of those harder puzzles - see if you can solve them - solutions at the end of the page.
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Round 1
Results
No Name Feder Total Result Name Feder Total 1 Andrew Campbell L6 [0] 1:0 Ben Guerrero F1 [0] 2 George McClelland F1 [0] 1:0 Jonah Corr F4 [0] 3 Jake Gourley F2 [0] 1:0 Aidan Spence F1 [0] 4 Matthew Loughrey P5 [0] 0:1 Freddie Corr F1 [0] 5 Eli Davison F4 [0] 1:0 Joseph Haslam-Black P7 [0] 6 Alwin Michael P7 [0] 1:0 Toby Crothers F4 [0] 7 Rithvik Deekonda F2 [0] 1:0 Jackson Coakley P6 [0] 8 Advait Tahmankar P6 [0] 0:1 Karthikeya Karpagavinayagam F3 [0] 9 Peter Murphy F3 [0] 1:0 Alexander Davis P3 [0] 10 Kia Kazemi Jahandizi P5 [0] 1:0 Lorcan Rippon P7 [0] 11 Alex McKeown P4 [0] 1:0 Nathan Johnston P5 [0] 12 Abhiram Ganja P4 [0] 1:0 Saoirse Rippon F3 [0] 13 Thomas Loughrey F3 [0] 1:0 Soundharya Premkumar P4 [0] 14 Torin Rippon P3 [0] 0:1 Isaac Kirkland F4 [0] 15 Nathan Murray F2 [0] 1:0 Luke Spence P3 [0]
by Swiss Perfect (TM) www.swissperfect.com
New faces and approximate ratings will out when the results of the first round arent quite what you expect. George McClelland beats Jonah Corr whilst Alwin Michael wins against Toby Crothers. Kia Kazemi Jahandizi beats Lorcan Rippon and Abhiram Ganja wins against Saoirse Rippon. These are all players to watch - will their winning ways continue?
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Round 2
Results
No Name Feder Total Result Name Feder Total 1 Jake Gourley F2 [1] 1:0 Thomas Loughrey F3 [1] 2 Freddie Corr F1 [1] .5:.5 Kia Kazemi Jahandizi P5 [1] 3 Karthikeya Karpagavinayagam F3 [1] 1:0 Eli Davison F4 [1] 4 Rithvik Deekonda F2 [1] 1:0 Abhiram Ganja P4 [1] 5 Isaac Kirkland F4 [1] 0:1 Andrew Campbell L6 [1] 6 Alwin Michael P7 [1] 1:0 Alex McKeown P4 [1] 7 George McClelland F1 [1] .5:.5 Peter Murphy F3 [1] 8 Alexander Davis P3 [0] 0:1 Nathan Murray F2 [1] 9 Lorcan Rippon P7 [0] 1:0 Matthew Loughrey P5 [0] 10 Aidan Spence F1 [0] 1:0 Ben Guerrero F1 [0] 11 Luke Spence P3 [0] 1:0 Jackson Coakley P6 [0] 12 Toby Crothers F4 [0] 1:0 Nathan Johnston P5 [0] 13 Jonah Corr F4 [0] 1:0 Joseph Haslam-Black P7 [0] 14 Soundharya Premkumar P4 [0] 1:0 Torin Rippon P3 [0] 15 Saoirse Rippon F3 [0] 0:1 Advait Tahmankar P6 [0]
Kia Kazemi Jahandizi continues with a good draw against Freddie Corr whilst Alwin Michael wins against Alex McKeown. Andrew Campbell continues to win as does Jake, Karthikeya, Rithvik and Nathan Murray.
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Round 3
Results
No Name Feder Total Result Name Feder Total 1 Karthikeya Karpagavinayagam F3 [2] 1:0 Rithvik Deekonda F2 [2] 2 Andrew Campbell L6 [2] 0:1 Alwin Michael P7 [2] 3 Nathan Murray F2 [2] 0:1 Jake Gourley F2 [2] 4 Kia Kazemi Jahandizi P5 [1.5] 1:0 George McClelland F1 [1.5] 5 Peter Murphy F3 [1.5] .5:.5 Freddie Corr F1 [1.5] 6 Thomas Loughrey F3 [1] 0:1 Jonah Corr F4 [1] 7 Abhiram Ganja P4 [1] 0:1 Lorcan Rippon P7 [1] 8 Alex McKeown P4 [1] 0:1 Isaac Kirkland F4 [1] 9 Eli Davison F4 [1] 1:0 Aidan Spence F1 [1] 10 Soundharya Premkumar P4 [1] 1:0 Luke Spence P3 [1] 11 Advait Tahmankar P6 [1] 0:1 Toby Crothers F4 [1] 12 Ben Guerrero F1 [0] 1:0 Alexander Davis P3 [0] 13 Jackson Coakley P6 [0] 0:1 Matthew Loughrey P5 [0] 14 Nathan Johnston P5 [0] 1:0 Torin Rippon P3 [0] 15 Joseph Haslam-Black P7 [0] 1:0 Saoirse Rippon F3 [0]
Alwin wins against the favourite Andrew Campbell. Whilst Karthikeya wins against Rithvik and Jake wins against Nathan. The young P5 player Kia Kazami wins against George McClelland.
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Round 4
Results
No Name Feder Total Result Name Feder Total 1 Jake Gourley F2 [3] 0:1 Karthikeya Karpagavinayagam F3 [3] 2 Alwin Michael P7 [3] 1:0 Kia Kazemi Jahandizi P5 [2.5] 3 Lorcan Rippon P7 [2] 0:1 Andrew Campbell L6 [2] 4 Isaac Kirkland F4 [2] .5:.5 Peter Murphy F3 [2] 5 Toby Crothers F4 [2] 1:0 Eli Davison F4 [2] 6 Jonah Corr F4 [2] 0:1 Rithvik Deekonda F2 [2] 7 Freddie Corr F1 [2] 0:1 Nathan Murray F2 [2] 8 George McClelland F1 [1.5] 0:1 Soundharya Premkumar P4 [2] 9 Luke Spence P3 [1] 0:1 Thomas Loughrey F3 [1] 10 Matthew Loughrey P5 [1] 0:1 Ben Guerrero F1 [1] 11 Nathan Johnston P5 [1] 1:0 Abhiram Ganja P4 [1] 12 Joseph Haslam-Black P7 [1] 0:1 Alex McKeown P4 [1] 13 Aidan Spence F1 [1] 1:0 Advait Tahmankar P6 [1] 14 Torin Rippon P3 [0] 0:1 Alexander Davis P3 [0] 15 Jackson Coakley P6 [0] 1:0 BYE
Over half way through the afternoon and we have 2 leaders newcomer to our tournaments Alwin Michael and Karthikeya Karpagavinayagam, Its excellent to see P5 and P7 players on the top 3 boards.
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Round 5
Results
No Name Feder Total Result Name Feder Total 1 Karthikeya Karpagavinayagam F3 [4] .5:.5 Alwin Michael P7 [4] 2 Rithvik Deekonda F2 [3] 0:1 Andrew Campbell L6 [3] 3 Soundharya Premkumar P4 [3] 0:1 Jake Gourley F2 [3] 4 Nathan Murray F2 [3] 1:0 Toby Crothers F4 [3] 5 Kia Kazemi Jahandizi P5 [2.5] 0:1 Isaac Kirkland F4 [2.5] 6 Peter Murphy F3 [2.5] 1:0 Aidan Spence F1 [2] 7 Thomas Loughrey F3 [2] 1:0 Nathan Johnston P5 [2] 8 Alex McKeown P4 [2] 0:1 Lorcan Rippon P7 [2] 9 Eli Davison F4 [2] .5:.5 Jonah Corr F4 [2] 10 Ben Guerrero F1 [2] 1:0 Freddie Corr F1 [2] 11 Alexander Davis P3 [1] 0:1 George McClelland F1 [1.5] 12 Advait Tahmankar P6 [1] 1:0 Matthew Loughrey P5 [1] 13 Abhiram Ganja P4 [1] 0:1 Luke Spence P3 [1] 14 Jackson Coakley P6 [1] 1:0 Joseph Haslam-Black P7 [1] 15 Torin Rippon P3 [0] 1:0 BYE
Soundharya Premkumar on 3 out of 4 is on board 3 loosed to Jake Gourley who is playing very well. Alwin and Karthikeya have a tough battle ending in a draw.
The puzzles sheets are collected and marked. Many thanks to David Corr for assisting with this. Its a busy process so no photos for these rounds. I realised that some of these are quite difficult - more so than previous months. But always worth solving, a good way to improve your chess.
Round 6
Results
No Name Feder Total Result Name Feder Total 1 Andrew Campbell L6 [4] 1:0 Karthikeya Karpagavinayagam F3 [4.5] 2 Jake Gourley F2 [4] 0:1 Alwin Michael P7 [4.5] 3 Isaac Kirkland F4 [3.5] 0:1 Nathan Murray F2 [4] 4 Toby Crothers F4 [3] 1:0 Peter Murphy F3 [3.5] 5 Ben Guerrero F1 [3] 1:0 Thomas Loughrey F3 [3] 6 Lorcan Rippon P7 [3] 0:1 Rithvik Deekonda F2 [3] 7 Jonah Corr F4 [2.5] 1:0 Soundharya Premkumar P4 [3] 8 George McClelland F1 [2.5] 0:1 Eli Davison F4 [2.5] 9 Luke Spence P3 [2] 0:1 Kia Kazemi Jahandizi P5 [2.5] 10 Aidan Spence F1 [2] 0:1 Alex McKeown P4 [2] 11 Freddie Corr F1 [2] 0:1 Advait Tahmankar P6 [2] 12 Nathan Johnston P5 [2] 0:1 Jackson Coakley P6 [2] 13 Alexander Davis P3 [1] 0:1 Abhiram Ganja P4 [1] 14 Matthew Loughrey P5 [1] 1:0 Torin Rippon P3 [1] 15 Joseph Haslam-Black P7 [1] 1:0 BYE
Karthikeya is finally beaten by Andrew Campbell and the undefeated winner of the tournament is Alwin Michael. Such a good result with tough opposition. We are lucky to have such a good new player.
Standings
Place Name Feder Score M-Buch. Buch. Progr.
1 Michael, Alwin P7 5.5 16.0 24.0 20.0
2-3 Campbell, Andrew L6 5 16.0 24.5 17.0
Murray, Nathan F2 5 11.5 16.5 17.0
4 Karpagavinayagam, Karthikeya F3 4.5 16.5 25.0 19.0
5-8 Gourley, Jake F2 4 15.5 23.0 17.0
Crothers, Toby F4 4 15.0 22.5 13.0
Deekonda, Rithvik F2 4 13.5 20.5 15.0
Guerrero, Ben F1 4 9.0 15.0 10.0
9-13 Kirkland , Isaac F4 3.5 15.0 20.5 13.5
Davison, Eli F4 3.5 12.0 18.0 12.0
Corr, Jonah F4 3.5 12.0 17.5 11.0
Jahandizi, Kia Kazemi P5 3.5 11.0 18.5 13.5
Murphy, Peter F3 3.5 10.0 15.0 14.0
14-19 Rippon, Lorcan P7 3 12.5 19.5 11.0
Loughrey, Thomas F3 3 12.5 18.5 11.0
Premkumar, Soundharya P4 3 11.0 15.5 12.0
McKeown, Alex P4 3 10.5 17.5 10.0
Tahmankar, Advait P6 3 10.0 16.0 8.0
Coakley, Jackson P6 3 9.0 14.5 6.0
20 McClelland, George F1 2.5 13.5 18.0 10.5
21-27 Corr, Freddie F1 2 14.0 21.0 10.5
Spence, Aidan F1 2 14.0 21.0 8.0
Spence, Luke P3 2 12.0 19.0 7.0
Haslam-Black, Joseph P7 2 12.0 17.0 5.0
Johnston, Nathan P5 2 10.5 15.0 7.0
Loughrey, Matthew P5 2 10.5 15.0 5.0
Ganja, Abhiram P4 2 8.5 13.5 7.0
28-29 Davis, Alexander P3 1 12.0 17.5 3.0
Rippon, Torin P3 1 10.0 14.5 2.0
30 Rippon, Saoirse F3 0 2.0 6.5 0.0
The overall winner unbeaten is Alwin Michael followed closely in 2nd place by Andrew Campbell and Nathan Murray.
The certificates are given out to players on the same points. Trophies being award to the top two of each section.
With this being the final Childrens Chess the points for the Grandprix can be calculated and invites sent to players for the Award Ceremony to be held at Stormont on 7th June. An article will be posted on this site giving the final standings for the Grandprix.
Many thanks to all our volunteers, to our sponsor Stendhal Music & Arts Festival, to our players, to their Parents and to the Wonderful game of chess.
Most important enjoy the game not the winning but the challenge of playing and learning and the wonderful people we meet on the journey.
| Name | Form | Section | Pos. | Score | M-Buch. | Buch. | Progr. |
| Campbell, Andrew | L6 | F4> | 1st | 5 | 16 | 24.5 | 17 |
| Crothers, Toby | F4 | F4> | 2nd | 4 | 15 | 22.5 | 13 |
| Kirkland , Isaac | F4 | F4> | 3rd | 3.5 | 15 | 20.5 | 13.5 |
| Davison, Eli | F4 | F4> | 3rd | 3.5 | 12 | 18 | 12 |
| Corr, Jonah | F4 | F4> | 3rd | 3.5 | 12 | 17.5 | 11 |
| Name | Form | Section | Pos. | Score | M-Buch. | Buch. | Progr. |
| Karpagavinayagam, Karthikeya | F3 | F3 | 1st | 4.5 | 16.5 | 25 | 19 |
| Murphy, Peter | F3 | F3 | 2nd | 3.5 | 10 | 15 | 14 |
| Loughrey, Thomas | F3 | F3 | 3rd | 3 | 12.5 | 18.5 | 11 |
| Name | Form | Section | Pos. | Score | M-Buch. | Buch. | Progr. |
| Murray, Nathan | F2 | F2 | 1st | 5 | 11.5 | 16.5 | 17 |
| Gourley, Jake | F2 | F2 | 2nd | 4 | 15.5 | 23 | 17 |
| Deekonda, Rithvik | F2 | F2 | 2nd | 4 | 13.5 | 20.5 | 15 |
| Name | Form | Section | Pos. | Score | M-Buch. | Buch. | Progr. |
| Guerrero, Ben | F1 | F1 | 1st | 4 | 9 | 15 | 10 |
| McClelland, George | F1 | F1 | 2nd | 2.5 | 13.5 | 18 | 10.5 |
| Corr, Freddie | F1 | F1 | 3rd | 2 | 14 | 21 | 10.5 |
| Spence, Aidan | F1 | F1 | 3rd | 2 | 14 | 21 | 8 |
| Name | Form | Section | Pos. | Score | M-Buch. | Buch. | Progr. |
| Michael, Alwin | P7 | P7 | 1st | 5.5 | 16 | 24 | 20 |
| Rippon, Lorcan | P7 | P7 | 2nd | 3 | 12.5 | 19.5 | 11 |
| Haslam-Black, Joseph | P7 | P7 | 3rd | 2 | 12 | 17 | 5 |
| Name | Form | Section | Pos. | Score | M-Buch. | Buch. | Progr. |
| Tahmankar, Advait | P6 | P6 | 1st | 3 | 10 | 16 | 8 |
| Coakley, Jackson | P6 | P6 | 2nd | 3 | 9 | 14.5 | 6 |
| Name | Form | Section | Pos. | Score | M-Buch. | Buch. | Progr. |
| Jahandizi, Kia Kazemi | P5 | P5< | 1st | 3.5 | 11 | 18.5 | 13.5 |
| Premkumar, Soundharya | P4 | P5< | 2nd | 3 | 11 | 15.5 | 12 |
| McKeown, Alex | P4 | P5< | 2nd | 3 | 10.5 | 17.5 | 10 |
| Spence, Luke | P3 | P5< | 3rd | 2 | 12 | 19 | 7 |
| Johnston, Nathan | P5 | P5< | 3rd | 2 | 10.5 | 15 | 7 |
| Loughrey, Matthew | P5 | P5< | 3rd | 2 | 10.5 | 15 | 5 |
| Ganja, Abhiram | P4 | P5< | 3rd | 2 | 8.5 | 13.5 | 7 |
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13. White to move (1001W-794) 1. Nf7 Kxf7 2. Qxe6+ If 2. … Kxe6 3. Ng5# 2. … Kg6 3. g4! Be4 4. Nh4# |
14. White move. (1001W-795) 1. Bb5! Qxb5 2. Rxh7+ Kxh7 3. Qh5+ Bh6 4. Qxh6# |
15. White to move (1001W-796) 1. e4! Bxe5 If 1. … Qxd4 2. Bh6 Qxe5 3. Qh8# 2. Bh6+ Ke8 3. dxe5 Qxe5 4. Qg8+ Kd7 5. Rd1+ Resigns |
16. White to move (1001W-797) 1. Bxf7+ Kxf7 2. Ne6 N2e5 If 2. … Kxe6 3. Qd5+ Kf6 4. Qf5# 3. Nxd8 Resigns |
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17. White to move (1001W-798) 1. Rc8+ Bxc8 If 1. … Kf7 2. Qc7+ leads to mate 2. Qe8+ Rf8 3. Rxg7+ Kxg7 4. Qg6+ Kh8 5. Qh7# |
18. White to move (1001W-799) 1. Nb5 axb5 2. Nd6+ Qxd6 If 2. … Ke7 3. Rxf7+ Nxf7 4. Qxf7+ Kd8 5. Qe8# 3. Rxd6 Resigns |
19. White to move (1001W-800) 1. Rc7 R3a8 If 1. … Rxc7 2. Rb8 followed by 3. Rf8# 2. R3f3+ |
20. White to move (1000CC-333) 1. Bd4 Qxe1 If 1. … Qc6 2. Ne7 2. Qg7+ Bxg7 3. fxg7+ Kg8 4. Nh6# |
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21. White to move (1000CC-334) 1. Qxh7+! Kxh7 2. Ng6+ Kg8 3. Rh8+ Kf7 4. Rf8+ Qxf8 5. d6# |
22 White to move (1000CC-335) 1. Qxe4 fxe4? 2. Bxe4+ Kh8 3. Ng6+ Kh7 4. Nxf8+ Kh8 5. Ng6+ Kh7 6. Ne5+ Kh8 7. Nf7# |
